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Gingo Animation
Gingo Animation, LLC., also known as Gingo Entertainment or simply as Gingo and stylized as GiNGO, is an American animation studio based in North Hollywood, California that is a subsidiary of Universal Studios, a division of NBCUniversal. It was founded by Geo G. and Michael Wildshill in 1988 and creates animated feature films, short films, television programs and video games. The studio has currently produced a total of 20 feature films, beginning with The Gabriel Garza Movie (1997) and its most recent being Imagimals (2017). During its early years, Gingo entered an agreement to co-produce and co-finance feature films with 20th Century Fox, who came to own a large minority stake of the studio. In 2007, Universal Studios acquired Gingo, who retained their original brand, logo, and most intellectual properties, at a valuation of $3.85 billion. Although the studio also made traditionally animated films in the past, all of their films now use computer animation. Gabriel Garza, a character from the studio's animated television series of the same name, is the studio's mascot. The studio is best known for its most well-known franchises such as Gabriel Garza, Hatty, Planetokio, Computeropolis, Woo La La, Quest, and Imagimals. Its highest-grossing films are Gabriel Garza 2 (2014), which has grossed $1.198 billion worldwide; The Planetokio Movie (2015), which has grossed $717.3 million worldwide; and Computeropolis (2004), which grossed $697.1 million worldwide. Gabriel Garza 2 is among the 50 highest-grossing films of all time, and fourteen of the films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films, with Gabriel Garza 2 being the fourth all-time highest. History Founding (1982–1993) Gingo Animation was founded by animators Geo G. and Michael Wildshill in 1982 as Geo G. Productions, and originally, was a division of Hanna-Barbera, before it was renamed Gingo in 1988, and separated from the studio. In early 1988, Geo G. Productions was renamed as Gingo Animation. Gingo had produced a Saturday morning animated television series Gabriel Garza, which ran on CBS from 1991 to 1993 and then on Fox Kids from 1994 to 2002. Created by Geo G., the series followed the adventures of a young boy named Gabriel Garza, who lives and hangs out with his friends via the Wacky Pack — Roge, Leno, Cole, Loy, and the Elves — in the town of Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. Gabriel has been Gingo's mascot since the character's introduction in 1991. In 1993, Gingo created a division called Glass Ball Productions, which it typically produces animated films and television shows targeted to young adult audiences than those released under the Gingo name. Partnership with 20th Century Fox (1994–2008) In May 1994, Gingo Animation and 20th Century Fox announced that their companies were teaming up to co-finance and distribute The Gabriel Garza Movie, Gingo's first feature film which is based on their television series Gabriel Garza, which had already been in pre-production for a year. On March 21, 1997, Gingo and Fox signed a $250 million deal to make additional 15 films that were estimated to be completed during the next 20 years. With the deal was also announced the first project, titled The Tub People. Intended to be based on the children's picture book of the same name by Pam Conrad, it was put on hold two years later because of script issues. Gingo Interactive was a computer and video game developer and publisher founded in 1994 as a Gingo subsidiary that was best known for developing Gabriel Garza, Niz Chicoloco, and Niz 2: The Journey of Nonsensical. In 2007, the company, however, went defunct in order to focus on third-party development of video game adaptations of its franchises by other developers. In 1995, when Pixar released the first-ever CGI feature Toy Story, Gingo began plans for a computer-animated feature competing against Pixar. The studio's ideas for its first CGI project included The Boy and the Ape, a concept that was designed in 1994 but the film did not get beyond its planning stage. The canceled project was revealed 19 years after the film's conception. The second CGI project was Galaxy Melody, which took inspirations from Star Wars and Disney's Fantasia. It was intended as a sci-fi comedy musical film, and to prove Gingo's ability to create CGI films other than hand-drawn films. Gingo spent six months on the project, developing several concept art and animation tests. However, most staff members, beside Geo G., were not passionate about the project, and thought it was "one-dimensional". Fox also thought the film would not find a market, and recommended Gingo to "play to their strengths". As a result, Galaxy Melody was scrapped. According to Geo, Galaxy Melody is a lesson for Gingo and its first failure. In 1996, Gingo released its first CGI short Tifi, which was Gingo's first attempt at CGI animation. On September 12, 1997, Gingo's first feature film The Gabriel Garza Movie was released to a great critical and financial success. Following this success, Gingo immediately planned for a sequel. In 1998, Fox bought a 35% stake in Gingo that gradually increased to 60%, strengthening the relationship between Fox and Gingo. The following year, the studio released its second feature film Paint World, which was released into theaters on September 3, 1999. Next year followed Another Gabriel Movie, the sequel to 1997's The Gabriel Garza Movie. From October 21, 1999 to January 31, 2000, Gingo had produced four computer-animated short films to promote the American release of the game Planetokio, titled Planetokio: Bot Fight, Planetokio Race, Planetokio – Clones and Planetokio – Iken's Lunch, all lasting for about three minutes. These are available to watch on the web, originally available for viewing on the American Planetokio official website. In June 2001, Gingo announced a full slate of twelve CGI-animated projects in production and in development: Lost in a City, an animated remake of 1976 action film Sky Riders, Computeropolis, an adaptation of the fighting game Abalaburn, How Frogs Go to London (simply known as Frogs at the time), Gabriel Garza: Unleashed, an adaptation of BJ and Wally, Greenwoods, Nerd Boy, an adaptation of the Marvel comic series Big Hero 6, a film adaptation of Planetokio, and an adaptation of the platform game Shake Kids. On September 13, 2002, Gingo released its first computer-animated film Lost in a City. It was followed by a third Gabriel Garza film Gabriel's Bogus Journey, which was released on September 26, 2003. On September 17, 2004, Gingo released its sixth feature film and its second computer-animated feature Computeropolis, which was met with favorable reviews and grossed $687 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film for Gingo (until it was surpassed by Gabriel Garza 2 in 2014) and the third highest-grossing film of 2004. Because of Computeropolis's success, Gingo was requested to green-lit a sequel, thus making Computeropolis Gingo's first CGI franchise. Due to the success of CGI animated films, Gingo decided to exit hand-drawn animation business. Beginning with Computeropolis, all released films were expected to be produced with CGI. Gingo released its seventh film How Frogs Go to London on July 15, 2005 and generally positive reviews but was financially unsuccessful upon its July 2005 release, resulting in a $93 million write-down for Gingo. Because of the film's box office failure, Gingo abandoned plans for a sequel, entitled How Frogs Go to Paris. The following year, Gingo's eighth film and an adaptation of BJ and Wally debuted on July 7, 2006 earning $140 million on its opening weekend, and eventually found its way to $328 million stateside and $486 million worldwide. The studio's first CGI sequel and ninth feature, Computeropolis 2, opened in the United States on September 21, 2007, earning worldwide over $469 million. Gingo's second CGI sequel was BJ and Wally: FusionMania, released in theaters on May 16, 2008. The film opened to a much bigger than expected $43 million opening, and ended up with $175 million domestically and $246 million worldwide. In 2008, Gingo celebrated 20 years of being an animation studio. Universal Studios era (2007–present) On June 1, 2007, three months before the release of Computeropolis 2, Variety reported that due to creative differences 20th Century Fox and Gingo Animation would not renew their distribution deal, set to expire with the release of BJ and Wally: FusionMania in 2008, as the final Gingo film distributed by Fox under their original distribution agreement. Fox also did not provide Gingo with more capital nor did they purchase the company's remaining stake. According to Gingo founders Geo G. and Michael Wildshill, they were surprised that Fox did not directly acquire the studio. Gingo then looked for potential buyers. In July 2007, workers from The Walt Disney Company and Universal Studios began visiting Gingo with purchase offers. Gingo was interested in Disney's offer, but the deal collapsed and on August 30, 2007 Universal officially announced a deal to acquire Gingo Animation for $3.85 billion, with Gingo shareholders to receive $30 and approximately 0.693 Universal shares for each share of Gingo they own. By January 31, 2008, the deal was announced to be completed, because of which Gingo became a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Studios. Character trademarks from franchises created by Gingo – such as Gabriel Garza, Hatty Weasel, Iken of Planetokio, and Peri Dazz of Computeropolis – were retained by Gingo and were sold to Universal. However, intellectual property produced through Gingo's Glass Ball Productions label, such as Geo TV and Cland Ann, were retained at Fox, who refused to sold the rights of Geo TV and Cland Ann to Universal due to the reason why Fox wanted to keep them is because Geo TV and Cland Ann were part of Fox's adult animation line-up, which consists of The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Futurama. The Gingo name was also guaranteed to continue, and the studio would remain in its current North Hollywood. Gingo's digital, marketing, consumer products, and gaming divisions were all absorbed into Universal's parent company NBCUniversal. Woo La La was the first film from Gingo to be distributed by Universal after its acquisition of the studio. Released in theaters on March 13, 2009 in the United States, Woo La La earned $532 million worldwide, which was Universal's highest-grossing 2009 film. Two months after Universal completed its acquisition of Gingo, Universal announced a deal with another animation production company Illumination Entertainment, formed by Chris Meledandri in 2007, by positioning Illumination as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm via Universal Pictures' feature animation group. This meant that Universal would be able to release as many as five animated films in a year, divided between Gingo and Illumination. Gingo Animation and Illumination Entertainment remain separate companies. Additionally, Geo G. served as an uncredited executive producer for some of Illumination's animated features, notably Despicable Me, The Lorax, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing. Michael Wildshill later explained that after the merger, to maintain the studios' separate identities and cultures (notwithstanding the fact of common ownership and common senior management), he and Geo G. "drew a hard line" that each studio was solely responsible for its own projects and would not be allowed to borrow personnel from or lend tasks out to the other. That rule ensures that each studio maintains "local ownership" of projects and can be proud of its own work. Thus, for example, when Gingo had issues with Gabriel Garza (2011) and Illumination had issues with The Lorax (2012), "nobody bailed them out" and each studio was required "to solve the problem on its own" even when they knew there were personnel at the other studio who theoretically could have helped. In September 2012, Gingo named a former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Peter Schneider, president of Gingo Animation. In January 2013, Schneider resigned for personal reasons. In 2013, Gingo celebrated its 25th anniversary. The studio's sixteenth film, Gabriel Garza 2, opened in the United States on July 2, 2014, earning worldwide over $1 billion, becoming the highest-grossing 2014 animated film and breaking a record as the most profitable Gingo film in its 25-year history. Gabriel Garza 2 also became the first film from Gingo to earn over $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue and is currently the fourth highest-grossing animated film of all time, behind Toy Story 3 (2010), Minions (2015), and Frozen (2013). In 2015, the releases of Hatty and The Planetokio Movie marked the first time Gingo released two films in one calendar year. On April 28, 2016, NBCUniversal announced its intent to acquire competing studio DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, thus making DreamWorks Animation the third animation studio owned by Universal following Gingo Animation and Illumination Entertainment. On August 22, 2016, the acquisition was completed. On February 15, 2017, Universal acquired a minority stake in Amblin Partners, reuniting Gingo with a part of DreamWorks. This helped Gingo negotiate some future plans for the ''Niz Chicoloco'' franchise. In 2018, Gingo will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Company name The company name is named after Gingo biloba (later Ginkgo biloba), a poem written by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poem was published in his work West-östlicher Diwan (West-Eastern Divan), first published in 1819. Goethe used "Gingo" instead of "Ginkgo" in the first version to avoid the hard sound of the letter "k". The company is also named after Ginkgo biloba, the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta, all others being extinct. It is found in fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated and was introduced early to human history. It has various uses in traditional medicine and as a source of food. The genus name Ginkgo is regarded as a misspelling of the Japanese gin kyo, "silver apricot". The name of the company was originally going to be "StarActive Studios", but founders Geo G. and Michael Wildshill wanted to come up with something funny and what is said was intended "to describe the non-linear editing systems and video compression the company was specializing on". They afterwards decided to go with Gingo Animation Studios, most commonly known today as Gingo Animation. However, Geo has claimed that the name was a result of being a pun on "bingo but with a G instead of a B". Filmography Feature films Released :For Glass Ball Productions films, see Glass Ball Productions. Upcoming Films in development Direct-to-video films TV specials Short films Television series Online series Coming soon! Accolades Academy Awards Coming soon! Golden Globes Coming soon! Critics' Choice Awards Coming soon! Kids' Choice Awards Coming soon! National Board of Review Coming soon! Satellite Award Coming soon! Highest-grossing films See also *Illumination Entertainment *DreamWorks Animation *Universal Animation Studios *Gingo Interactive *Gingo Animation/upcoming release slate timeline *Gingo Animation production logo Category:Companies Category:Gingo Animation Category:Universal Studios Category:NBCUniversal Category:Comcast Category:Gingo Animation Wiki